The invention relates to a photographic still camera having a film feeding or transport device driven by a rectilinearly moved slider and also having a displaceable cover plate which in its closed position covers the housing openings or windows for the viewfinder and the lens, and in its open position clears these openings or windows.
In a known camera of this general type, the cover plate is externally guided on the camera housing and serves at the same time as a drive for the film transport device. When the cover plate is moved into the position clearing the viewfinder and lens, the film transport device or feeding mechanism is driven at the same time. This advances the film by one picture length or "frame." The film transport is monitored by a feeler lever which, after exactly one picture length, drops into a perforation of the film and blocks the further movement of the film transport device.
In a camera of such construction, there is the difficulty that the shifting distance of the film transport slider used at the same time as a cover plate, which is necessary in order to transport the film by one picture length, is not constant over the whole length of the film strip, but decreases with increasing diameter of the film wound on the take-up spool. This has the result that when the film wound on the take-up spool reaches a relatively large diameter, near the end of the film strip, the film transport device blocks before the viewfinder and lens are completely cleared by the cover slider. In order to avoid this, in a known camera a planet wheel gearing is provided which uncouples the film transport slider or the cover plate from the film transport device as soon as the latter is blocked by the entering feeler lever. In this way the cover plate can always be pushed into its end position clearing the viewfinder and lens, independently of the necessary film transport distance.
However, such a planet wheel gearing requires high precision with consequent expense both in production and in the assembly of the camera, and causes considerable manufacturing difficulties especially in installation in miniature cameras.
The present invention is based upon the problem of producing a camera of the general type initially stated in which the above mentioned difficulties or disadvantages are fully overcome. According to the invention, the film transport slider and the cover plate for viewfinder and lens are so designed and arranged in a simple and operationally reliable manner that by means of the film transport slider the cover plate is transferred completely from its closed position into its open position with simultaneous film transport, independently of the extent of displacement of the film transport slider required for an advance of one picture.